“Our team showed great mental toughness throughout the game and never really flinched, in spite of what the score was.”

The crack in the Atlanta armor, as it turned out, soon turned into a fissure.

In the frantic conclusion that followed, as the media’s game stories screeched to a U-turn, the eventual hero of the night, Tom Brady, began to have his way.

It was as if the Falcons’ defense had expended so much youthful energy, there was no reservoir to draw from once Brady took over. At the end of the night, the New England offense had run 93 plays. Atlanta was gassed.

But teams don’t erase 25-point deficits without help —help from the other team, maybe also help from above. Though Devonta Freeman had run well in the first half, the Falcons all but forgot him in the final two quarters.

Head coach Dan Quinn and his staff also will have to live with one of Super Bowl history’s memorable second guesses — why try to throw on first down, after Julio Jones had put the Falcons in field goal position with a jaw-dropping, toe-tapping catch at the sideline?

A sack and a holding penalty forced Atlanta to punt, giving Brady time for the game-knotting drive.

Which is where the help from above came in. There are few other ways to explain Julian Edelman’s 23-yard catch, as the ball juggled between the legs and feet of three crashing Falcons defenders.

His young team will get over the defeat, Quinn promised. But he seemed to only be whistling in the Super Bowl dark.

Quinn said he doesn’t question the pass plays that were called before New England’s tying touchdown drive.

But to give receivers time to get open, an offense has to block. And at a point in the game when the tiring Falcons should have been trying to run the football and use up as much of the clock as possible, they instead were handing Brady precious time.

His young team will get over the defeat, Quinn promised. But he seemed to only be whistling in the Super Bowl dark. How often has Atlanta gotten to these Super Bowl things?

The Falcons’ furious, three-quarter effort had only set the stage for the Patriots’ calm, surgical finish, led by the brilliant Brady.